No More Pets in the Hold
Very quietly, the "new" USAirways has announced it will no longer fly pets, post merger. Traveling in the cabin, for small ones, is still OK, and they will honor any reservations already made, but no more checked. In my case, since we have flown our dogs for years, without incident, that is the final nail in the pine box for us at this carrier. They claim they are conforming to America West, but it should be noted that AWA's 2 hubs are located in desert infernos (I lived in PHX for 4 years, so I know of where I speak). This action could mean a lot of things. Anything from a dumb, parochial decision, to a precursor of things to come, such as a disproportionate shift of hub traffic West, to plans to fire all the ramp workers, and not wanting the fallout from mishandling, now that such stats are required to be disclosed monthly. At a time when many larger carriers are actually chasing this business, to the extent they are even offering the animals FF miles, you have to wonder if the Kool Aid has been sent on ahead to Tempe.